12 December 2009

“The Fetus Beat Us”

Let Life Speak for Itself

Since the 1980s, many younger women, including a number who were well-indoctrinated by late 20th Century feminism, have begun to categorically reject abortion under any circumstances. Evidently, it wasn't harangues from Newt Gingrich or an inspiring call from the Gipper to win one for his team that started leading even upscale, college-educated, hard-charging women to this pinnacle of “social conservatism.” Instead, the most eloquent appeals came from those too young to talk—too young, even, to draw a breath:

[T]he concept that young college-educated women could be anti-choice is so implausible that [older women from both major parties] tend to assume the younger women will grow out of that opinion as life circumstances teach them about the moral complexities of women’s lives. Others regard the anti-abortion rhetoric as the political posturing of the young. But women like Kellyanne Fitzpatrick resolutely beg to differ. For them, the central issue is not privacy—a woman’s right to control her own body—but rather the reality of visibly moving fetuses that they believe to be fully human. “You can’t appeal to us through our wombs,” Fitzpatrick says. “We’re pro-life. The fetus beat us. We grew up with sonograms. We know life when we see it.” (Quoted from “In the Land of Conservative Women” by Elinor Burkett in The Atlantic Monthly, September 1996)

Videos such as “In the Womb” from National Geographic, give us an open window into the enormous complexity of David’s confession: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.... (Psalm 139:14a)” Will you join me in amplifying these young voices so that they can speak clearly to those who still don’t know them as fellow human beings?